Process of smelting ores.



-TOHN H. KLEPING'ER, MILO W. KREJ'I. AND CHARLES R. KUZELL, OF GREAT FALLS,

MONTANA.

PROCESS OF SIVELTING DRES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentd Noam 16 1915.

Application med January 21, 1915, serial No. 3,539.

To all ywhom/'15 may concern:

Be it known that We, JOHN H. KLEPINGER, Wmo XV. KREJI, and CHARLES R. KUZELL, citizens of the UnitedStates, residing at Great Falls, in the county'of Cascade and State o-f Montana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Smelting Orcs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

action of lcarbon or equivalent reducing reagent. i

The improved process is specially applicable to the smelting and reduction of ores and metallic oxids which are in a finely divided condition and which can not advantageously be treated in either a blast or reverberatory furnace. Ores in a finely comminuted condition do not readily lend themselves to treatment ina blast furnace because they either pack and thus prevent a free percolation of the gases therethrough,

vor the fine. particles are carried out ofthe furnace byfthe gases; and they are-difficult of treatment in a reverberatory furnace on account of their tendencyto pack, thus pre-V venting the reaction gases from gaining access to the individual particles of the ore,

the reaction being confined to, the surface of the charge only. Where fine material and dusinare fed toY a fuel-fired smelting furnace of the reverberatory type, Ithere results more or less bedding 'or piling up of the material in the furnace in such a manner that only those particles Whichlie on the outside of the bed aredirectly exposed to the influence of the beatings, medium `Which is usually the gases of combustion of the fuel. Furthermore, even 1n these par- 'p ticles their entire surface is not directlyv exposed due tothe contact of each particle with adjacent particles. It follows therefore 4that the efficiency of the transfer of heat from the heating mediumA to the particles to 4be smelted is not as high as it would be if each particle were, immediately upon entering the furnace, completely. surrounded by the heating medium.

The object of the present invention therefore is to completely surround each particle as' It enters the furnace chamber, With the heating medium, whereby the necessary reaction between it and said medium may take place with avr view of' bringing aboutfthe rapld reduction and smelting of the material contemplated by our invention.

The invention is not restricted to the treatment offany one ore, being applicable to any oxidized ore (or metallic oxid) re- 'quiring a reducing process, examples of which may be cited ores of iron, copper, lead, zinc, the process making it possible to treat economically' the fines of these ores. These fines may be dust, or finely comminuted material resulting from the grinding of the ore and which is now generally treated in conjunction with coarser particles in furnaces specially adapted for treating coarse material. In practising the process We are not restricted to the use of any' particular apparatus, as this may be varied according -to circumstances and local conditions, the nature of the ore, the character of the fuel and the like, but in order that the processA may be readily comprehended We illustrat conventionally one form of apparatus t e details V/of which Wil'i be described in connection With the invention proper.,

The advantages of the process will be apparent `from the following detailed description of the invention considered in connection withI the drawing aforesaid, in Which- Figure l is'a diagrammatic top plan vieW 3of ari-apparatus in which our process may be" carried on; and Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic sideelevation of the same, some'of the parts being represented more or `less conventionally.

Referring to the drawings, 1, represents an inclined revolving lcylinder lined with fire-brick or equivalent refractory material 2, the interior ofsaid cylinderser'ving as a combined combustion, treatment and reducing chamber. The said cylinder is driven from a' shaft D, and is herein shown more or less conventionally, being similar in construction tov a Acylindrical cementkiln used y, 1n the production of cement clinker, but differing therefrom in the manner of introducing `the charge, the ore and fuel in the present instance being introduced at the elevated end whereas in the cement practice the fuel introduced at the. low end of the cylinder. In the cement practice too, the

fuel end is thev point of discharge of they clinker, while .the opposite or high end serves both for the introduction of the raw material as well as an Vexit for the gases due to the combustion of the fuel used. r.

In our invention the low end of the cylinder serves as a discharge Wfor .the smelted material and as an; eXit for combustion and reaction gases. In the present embodiment -of our invention' the upper end of the revolving cylinder communicates with a casing 3 forming an igniting chamber which may be considered as a part of the treatment or combustion chamber of the cylinder 1, the casing having an openingO for the insertion of an igniting torch; and in the present instance being provided with a hopper al for the introduction of molten converter slag or other equivalent form of HuXing material should the same. be found necessary to be ladded tothe charge treated in the cylinder `1. Disposed adjacent the casing 8 is a hopper 4 preferably divided into two contiguous, compartments a, b, by a division wall fw, the compartment a being charged with fine ore or oXid, and the compartment b being charged with powdered reduction fuel or coal, ythe materials being jointly conducted by a screwconveyer 5 through a down-take 6 into the mixing chamber 7 across the path of discharge of the blast nozzle or nozzles) 7 through which air (or other gas) under pressure is delivered by a hot air Hue er conduit 8 leading from agdistribute'r or valve-casing 9, the Hue being provided with a controlling valve C of any well known type. Communicating with the casing 9 through the conduits 10, 10, are suitable preheating stoves S, S, into which discharge the short pipes or conduits 11, 11, from a dis-'l tributer or valve-casing 12, the latter receiving through the Hue 13, the waste gases from the settling chamber 14 into which the contents of the treatment cylinder 1 are directly discharged. The settling chamber is connected to the cylinder 1 as shown, receiving therefrom not only the reaction and combustion gases generated therein, but also the molten metal and slag (if any) formed in the cylinder, the, metal collecting in the chamber being withdrawn throughthe bottom tap hole h, and the slag through the upper tap hole L, vthe gases escapingv through the waste gas Hue 13, as fully in dicated in the drawings. Theair is preheated in one or the other of the stoves S, being forced into the distributer casing 12 by a fan, pump, or blower F,.through the v valve or damper V to direct the air into one stove while directing the hot waste gases from the Hue 13 to the other stove, the damper being manipulated so as to utilize the absorbed heat first of one stove and then the other for `heating the incoming ir, while the other stove is being heated by the waste gases. The air thus preheated passes into the distributer casing 9 provided with a similar damper or valveV, which directs the heated air into the hot air Hue 8 v(whence it passes into the nozzle or nozzles-7'), the

hot waste gases comi-ng from the other stove being diverted into the waste gas Hue 16,

and main 17 By reversing the valves V, V.

the paths of the cold air and hot gases from the Hue 13 are reversed, that is t0 say, the stove which was traversed by the hot gases is now traversed by the cold air, and the stove traversed by the cold air is now trav- -ersed by the hot gases, the casing 9 always delivering heated air to the Hue 8and hot waste gases to the Hues 16, 17, one of the conduits l0 serving as an air conduit, while the other serves as a .gas conduit. The Hue 16 is provided with shunts or branches 18, 18, leading to driers 19, 19.', respectively which mayvcontain the ore and fuel charge respectively, the dried charges being subsequently conveyed to their respective com'- partments a, b,\of the hopper 4, Leading from the driers is a common waste pipe e discharging into the main 17. The settling chamber 14 may be provided with a hopper 2O `:for introducing flux or other material if desired, to maintain the layer of slag- Heating on top of the metal in the chamber, in a proper molten condition, and to protect the bottom layer of metal.

It will be seen from the drawings (Fig. 1) that the .discharge of the gases and molten material from the cylinder 1 is at a tangent to the walls of the settling chamber, this arrangement being desirable to prevent scattering of the particles and their' being carried over` into the waste gaswflue 13 and casing 1.2. By causing the gases and molten particles to enter at a tangent the same .are caused to hug the walls of the 'settling chamber and scattering or dispersion thereof is .Y avoided. Thesettling chamber may if desired be provided with suitable heatingapparatus (not shown) to v maintaina high temperature therein, a mat- A into the treatment chamber of the cylinder y 1, is set to discharge at an angle tothe axis Hof" the cylinder, so that the material is projected against the inner surface of the upper peripheral wall of the cylinder, this arrangement subserving a twofold object, to-wit-(1) it lessens the possibility of `fine unsmelted particles being carried into the smelting chamber, the im! pact of the particles against vthe cylinder walls causing scattering and thorough intermixture between the various components' of the charge (ore, fuelA and flux) so that the cylinder chamber (treatment chamber),

and (2) it serves to lengthen the life of the refractory lining of the cylinder as the stream of smelting material will continually impinge at different points of the lining as a result of the rotation of the cylinder about its axis. The oblique disposition of the .axis of the nozzle 7 (there may be one or more nozzles) to the axis of the vcylinder of course'is not absolutely indispensable, and in some cases the nozzles may be set parallelto the cylinder axis, in which event the projection of the material will be in the general direction of such axis. The nozzle or nozzles 7 have the effect of projecting the ore and fuel in the form of a spray or cloud so that ,each ore particle will be enveloped (with the'burning of the 'fuel) with a hot reaction gas at a proper temperature to effect reduction and fusion of the ore, it being understood that a -reducing atmosphere is maintained in the chamber of the casing-3 and .in the treat: ment chamber of the cylinder 1 to effect not only reduction of the oxids but fusion of 4the metal resulting from such reduction.

This reducing atmosphere may be attained by introducing solid (orgliquid) fuel in excess in conjunction with a proper complement of air, which may be either preheated as here described, or cold if desired; or it may be brought about by using (inlieu of solidlor liquid fuel) a reducinggas to op-l erate on the ore (or oxid), examples of suchr gas being producer gas or equivalent gases of a reducing nature. We may even substitute a rebox to generate the heating gases to act on the spray or cloud of ore (or oxid), as will be apparent to the skilled metallurgist. Y.

In the present embodiment of apparatus we illustrate but one blast nozzle 7 to spray the ore and fuel conjointly into ythe treatment chamber, the twomaterials mixing more or less before the same are projected into the treatment chamber, but we do not wish to .limit ourselves to this arrangement, as it is obvious that the'ore and fuel might be projected independently and by separate nozzles, the object sought being of course to secureas thorough intermingling thereof' as possible in the treatment chamber to insure the enveloping of each ore (or oxid) particleby the gases of combustion of the carbon (or equivalent) fuel employed. It follows thereforel that many changes falling within the purview of the skilled metallurgist and mechanic may be made in the apparatus without in any wise affecting the general scheme of our process.

Assuming that the general character of the apparatus employed is on the order of that illustrated, and that we are treating and reducing an oxid ore of copper, the operation of the invention will be substantially as follows: The copper may be in the form of CuO or C1120, or combined with CO2 or Si()2 or other chemical radical. For our present purpose,I and yto simplify the reactions, let us assume that it is a mixture of C110 and C1120. If the ore is not already in a finely divided condition or powder, it is first so reduced by means ofk any conventional form of grindingmachinery usually` employed for pulverizing ores and like material. Theiinely comminuted ore is placed in the compartment a of the'hopper 4, and

pulverized coal (or its equivalent) in the' compartment Z), and the screw conveyer 5 (operated from any suitable source of power, not shown) is started; At the same time the air pump F is started and the valve C opened. This Willcause the air to be forced through the pipe 15, casing 12, one of the pipes 11 and-its stove S, one of the fiues 10 and casing 9, the hot air flue 8 and nozzle (or nozzles)5 7, the 'current projecting the ore and fuel into and across the igniting chamber 3 as the materials drop from the down-take 6, the direction of projection being at an angleto the axis of the rotating cylinder l as previously described, whereby the particles are caused to'impinge against the inner walls of the cylinder, rotation being imparted to the latter from the drive shaft D as well understood in the art. The fines projected from the nozzle (or nozzles)- 7 may be ignitedthrough the torch hole O as well understood in the art. Before commencing the smelting operation, the combustion 'and settling chambers and stoves are gradually brought up to the high temperatures incident to the process by burning a .l certain quantity of the powdered fuel from respeccharge is readily reduced and smelted ,by the high temperature of the reducing atmosphere derived from the combustion of the fuel component admitted into the treatment chamber with the charge of oXid (or equivalent reducible compound). The nozzle (or nozzles) 7 projects the ore andfuel particles into the chambers 3 and 1 in the form of a cloud, the dissemination of the cloud being intensified by the rebound oftheburning fuel particles and ore as they :impinge against the inner Walls of.l the treatment cylinder 1. The reducing action is brought about by using fuel in excess of that required for melting alone, and by regulation .of the air supply so vas to produce a reducing atmosphere in the furnace. yUnder those conditions thecarbon dioxid resulting from the combustion of the fuel is converted into carbon monoXid by reaction 'With fresh particles of carbon, thus- There is thus produced a reducing gas or atmosphere which envelops each particle of 'the finely comminuted ore or oXid, effecting not only a reduction of the latter, but smelting the resulting metal component of the charge, the reaction being substantially as follows:

Wise be sprayed against the Walls of the cylinder l, With the crea-nd reduction fuel. The reductionof the metallic oXids and the fusion of the resulting metal are lsupposed to be effected in the chamber 3 and cylinder 1, While the particles arel still in suspension, although a portion of the reactions by Which this reduction and fusion is precipitated, it being remembered that the atmosphere in 'the chamber of said cylinder is ofl a highly reducing character, the rotation of the cylinder serving to keep up in a measure, the agitationof the particles so as to prevent their packing, and toinsure the envelopment of each unreduced ore particle by a film of the reducing atmosphere referred to. Once an oXid or ore particle is reduced, the metal thereof is fused, iowing down the incline of they cylinder 1 into Athe settling chalnberlr'l, the surface of the metal being protected hy `the slagwhich floats on top lof the metal.

If; desired, fluxing material' of `proper character may bedelivered intothe settling chamber through the hopper 20 so as to maintain a highlyzfluidslag'on topofthe charge of fused ormolten metal in the chamber,.the interior ofsaid chamber being maintained at a proper and sufficient temperature by the heat o f combustion ofthe fuel introduced with the yore charge.- As the cylinder l into' the lchamber -14; aid, inv the'l settlement of any particles of oreor metal carried into said chamber as heretoforeexplained.

. In the diagrammatic and more or less con- Y ventional drawings here shown, We have assumed that the same current projects the ore land fuel conjointly into the furnace; but it must be understood that we are in no Wise limited to any specific -means or apparatus for introducing the ore, flux or fuel into the treatment chamber. One set of blast nozzles might be used to project the ore, and another' setto independently project the fuel. Again, the .fuelused might I be gas, oil, any suitable fluid hydrocarbon, producer gas', and the like, and We do not Wish to be restricted to crushed coal. Again, if a reducing atmosphere is not desired, the air and fuel are so controlled that mere meltingor fusion Without reduction may be effected, depending on circumstances and conditions; but in all cases the object sought is to envelop each ore particle by a gaseous film at the proper temperature to eect fusion of the particle in a minimum amount of time and in the most economic manner, the spray or cloud method of feeding thevcharge having the effect of separating the individual particles sufficiently, from one another to permit of a free and unobstructed-access of l the reaction gases to each particle While the latter is still in suspension in the treatment chamber. A v

Having described our invention, what We claim is:

l. In the treatment lof metallic oXids, the process of spraying a charge of the oxids in a finely divided state into a treatment chamber, surrounding the particles While in the4 chamber With a gaseous reducing medium, maintaining the temperature ofthe mixture in the chamberto effect areduction ofthe oXids and a smelting of they metallic constituents of the chargewhile'still in a finely ydivided state, precipitating `the fused. particles, causing the precipitated particles to advance underagitation and in the presence of a reducingr medium to a suitablesettling from said last mentidned chamber. ff

2. Invthe treatment of ores or other material, the process of introducing a charge of the ore in a -nely divided state intoa treatchamber, andl finally 'removing the same i ment chamber, enveloping the ore particles while in suspension in said chamber with a heating medium operating to smelt the charge. precipitating the smelted particles to the bottom of said chamber, advancing c the precipitated particles while under agitation in the presence of the heating medium to a suitable settling chamber, and finally removing the smelted product from said settling chamber.

3. In the treatment of ore or other ma* terial, the process of introducing .a charge of ore and flux and reducing fuel in a finely divided state into a suitable treatment chamber, effecting ignition of the fuel in said chamber whereby each particle of ore is en.- veloped by a hot gaseous medium reacting chemically with the constituents of the ore, maintaining a reducing atmosphere in said chamber' at a temperature to effect reduction of the metallic compounds of the ore and fusion of the resulting metal while still in a finely divided state, precipitating the fused particles, conducting under agitation, the. fused particles in the presence of the reducing atmosphere. to a suitable settling reducing medium, maintaining the temperature of the contents of the chamber at a point to effect a reduction of the oXids and a smelting of the metallic constituents of the charge while still in a finely divided state,

precipitating the smelted particles, andl causing said precipitated and smelted particles to advance under agitation in the A.

presence of the reducing medium to a suitable point of discharge.

In testimony whereof We aflix our signatures in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN H. KLEPINGER. lMIL() W. KREJI. CHARLES R. KUZELL.

Witnesses:

M. A. PESTANA, T. P. CoRCoRAN. 

